"Life doesn't come with a manual...it comes with a mother."

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Mother's.

Especially my own. I love you.

Meeting Lily

The first thing Layla noticed when she walked in the door was my stomach.

She walked right past Lily and said, "Mom! You're still pregnant?! Where's Baby Lily?"

Talk about wanting to cry!!

 

Marx didn't really have any interest in her.

 

A 26 1/2 Week Bump

This poor baby girl!

I think I've blogged about her a handful of times.

I updated the blog weekly when I was pregnant with Layla, and

about every 5 weeks with Marx!

I swear I don't love this baby any less, life just gets busier!

I can hardly find time to blog, and when I do get a minute,

I can think of a billion other things I need or would rather do!!

 

 I took this @ 26 weeks, and I'm now 27 going on 28.

I figured I'd better get a blog post done!

 

This pregnancy has been cake compared to Layla and Marx.

And you wanna know why?!

doTERRA.

Not even kidding.

With the two other kiddlets, I threw up about a half a dozen times a day,

with this little chica,

3 times!

I know it has a lot to do with the Lifelong Vitality pack I take,

and then taking Ginger, Peppermint, and Clove daily definitely helped.

I won't get into it much, but seriously, I love essential oils!

 

I still crave salt.

Salt Salt Salt.

Like @ about 8:30PM, when the kiddlets go down, I could devour

a bag of chips.

BUT

I don't.

I don't even buy them, cause I know I wouldn't be able to control myself

if they were in my cupboard!

 

Layla is beyond thrilled that we're having another girl.

She's so happy, she even blesses her in her prayers, and tells me daily

how much she loves her baby sister.

She just can't wait to change her diaper and help feed her.

Lance teases her that the doctors made a mistake and that I'm infact having

a baby boy, and it really gets her fueld up.

She will not have another baby brother!!

 

Marx on the other hand doesn't even understand that in 3 months his world is going

to turn upside down. All he knows is that momma isn't as comfortable to lay on as she

used to be when he's being rocked, and he doesn't like it!

He'll push at my stomach like, "What the heck is this getting in my way?!"

And he's definitely right about that, she will be getting in his way soon!

 

I can't believe how much faster this pregnancy has gone by compared to my other two.

I need it to slow down just a little bit,

and I know that sounds crazy, but really, I'm not quite ready

for a newborn.

Marx is still a handful, so I need him to be a little older by the time

chica comes. He is getting better, I will give him that.

 

And I think we're finally narrowing down on some pretty adorable names,

hopefully she won't be nameless when we leave the hospital ;)

So excited for this next crazy chapter in our lives!

 

a quick catch up with pictures

Miraculously both of my children are taking a nap,

AT THE SAME TIME.

Layla's kind of grown out of the naps. If she takes one she sleeps for 3+ hours then she's up till 11:00,

if she doesn't take one, she's tired and whinny by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. It's tough transitioning!

Anyway, she layed on the couch about 30 min ago and feel asleep, while I was nursing Marx before his nap! And now I have a few minutes for MYSELF!

WOW

It feels great.

Life's been crazy for me lately.

I'm kind of having a rough time.

Being a mom is hard, it's exhausting.

Yeah, I know I only have 2 kids, but it's been, well, exhausting.

I look in the mirror and I feel like I look like I've aged 5 years.

Then I cry.

Somedays, well, most days, if I am not up by 5, shower and get ready, it just doesn' t happen.

It's safe to say, a lot of those days I barely get to brush my teeth!

Sheesh, I'm a mess.

{sigh}

Please tell me I'm not the only mom feeling this way?!

I sent this picture to my mom the other day.

It was the END of the day, one child was asleep and I had one more to go.

Our faces say it all.

As for our beautiful blessings.

They're totally worth it.

Layla came running into my room the other day laughing and said, "Mommy, you've got to come see what I did to brother!" I was nervous.

But this is all she had done....

 Little diva...

I accidentally took this pic, and so glad I did.

It's priceless.

And I did find a few minutes of my day the other day to be crafty.

I made this headband holder for Layla.

(it's just a spray painted oatmeal canister on a candle stick!)

urrggghhh....

i can't even tell you how sad i am that she did this...

she ALREADY has very fine hair.

it was starting to get thicker, then starter to fall out, bad.

(anyone else's 2 1/2 year old loose their hair?)

THEN

she goes and cuts it.

i give up.

she'll probably never have long, thick, beautiful hair ):

back to reality

so, obviously we've made it home from our utah trip.

home from 6 weeks of bliss!

it's taken me nearly 2 weeks to get caught up with cleaning, laundry, yard work, bills, and just

getting back into the groove of everything.

like taking care of two kids by myself kind of groove (:

first week home i did pretty well, only having a couple melt downs when layla would beg

me to go to grandma shellie's and play with buster. made her and i both homesick for utah.

but home is where the heart is, and since my Lance is in mississippi, that's where we belong.

For now.

mr. marx is growing way to fast.

he'll be 5 months old in a few days and i can hardly believe it.

he cut his first bottom tooth on the 21st and his second tooth on the 22nd.

it was a sad couple days.

only wanting his momma and not sleeping to great.

he's also starting to roll all over the place.

here he is in action...

and he's getting pretty used to his big sis doing stuff like sitting on him.

poor fella.

layla has been hilarious as usual.

her favorite things right now are playing house and combing my hair.

while playing house, she's usually the mom and i'm usually the "daughter."

she'll sling a purse on her shoulder and say, "i'll be right back daughter, i have to go to the doctor!"

and her little stories are endless.

i love that you just never know what's going to come out of her mouth.

for example...

when she returned back to the south with her daddy, she found her beloved uncle greg

and aunt mimi.

she says, "uncle greg?"

he says, "yes layla?"

she says, "i love you."

he says, "i love you too."

she then says, "uncle meme?" (instead of aunt)

she says, "yes layla?"

layla says, "i love uncle greg."

instead of, i love you too.

we all got a kick out of that.

i just love these two (:

need to vent and maybe gather some advise...

I love my daughter.
Any mother knows the love I have for her, because they feel that love for their own children.
Everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for her, and for entrusting me to care for her, to love her, to teach her.
She brings both Lance and I so much joy.
Joy that can't be replaced with any one item or material thing.
She spent her first nights away from us the weekend of our anniversary last month, and it almost killed both of us.
She's the reason for me waking up, making breakfast, getting ready for the day, taking care of our home.
Everything.
But lately,
She's been a terror!
Please, someone, tell me this is a phase.
She throws tantrums, she's bit me a couple times, and in return I bit her and left a mark.
i felt this small and like a horrible mother
She points her finger at me and tells me "No, no mama," when I tell her to do something, or to not do something.
She's ALWAYS running away from me.
She corner's other kids and makes them cry.
Then, I want to cry because every other mother is thinking my child is mean.
But then she'll say, "I sawry Mama," and look at me with her blueish-grayish eyes.
She'll hug my neck so tight, I don't want her to let go.
She'll cuddle me when I don't feel well.
She'll give me the best most juciest kisses ever!
And the first thing she says in the morning, in her little soft voice is..
"Mama, mama, mama..." until I go and get her out of her crib.
And once again, she hugs me, wants me to hold her, kisses me with that dragon breath of hers, and I don't even care cause she's my baby.

Someone please tell me how to handle her little attitude!
I hate spanking her.
She's only 21 months old.
Does she fully understand why she's getting spanked?
Or does she think:
"When I get upset, I can hit too."
She doesn't understand time out.
Although, she hates when I make her sit in her crib.
So maybe I'm doing something by doing that.

Any advise?
This is a phase right?
She'll grow out of it and be my little angel again until her teens, right?

{sigh}

Motherhood...
it's a wonderful thing.